Amlin Challenge Cup Final Information
3 May 2011, 6:36 pm
By Jon Salinger
We are pleased to announce the information for the Amlin Challenge Cup Final. This is between Harlequins and Stade Francais and will take place on Friday 20th May 2011, KO 7.45pm at the Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
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Ticket Information

There are 3 ticket prices for the Final - unfortunately there are no concessionary prices. They are as follows: -

£45 tickets- these are limited and situated in Level 4 of the Grandstand along the side.

£36 tickets- these are situated between the 22 metre lines in the Grandstand along the side.

£20 tickets - these are situated behind the posts in the Canton Stand.

There are plenty of tickets available for the match and not anticipating this selling out - famous last words!

Tickets are available to Season Ticket holders through the Harlequins Ticket Office and have been written to separately but if you are not a Season Ticket holder then tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster

Hospitality Options

This is still to be agreed and once known will appear on the Quins website

Travel Information

We are pleased to provide travel to the Cardiff City Stadium on the Friday for £10 return per person!

Coaches will be departing from the Stoop at 1.30pm and leaving the Cardiff City Stadium at 11.30pm.

Tickets for the coaches need to be purchased in advanced either over the telephone on 0871 527 1315 or in Person at the Stoop. Unfortunately this cannot be done online and is open to all supporters.

Viewing at the Stoop

If you cannot make it to Cardiff for the Final, then why not come down to the Stoop and watch it with like-minded supporters? For the recent Semi-Final match there were approx 200 in attendance and created a fantastic atmosphere!

The bar will be open and there will be food available to be purchased on the night - the bar will open at 6.30pm and will close at 10.30pm.

Tickets are FREE but they must be pre-booked in order for the Club to make arrangements and ensure that capacity is not exceeded - book early to avoid disappointment!

Tickets for this need to be got in advance either via the telephone on 0871 527 1315 or in Person at the Stoop. Unfortunately this cannot be done online. This is open to all supporters.

I agree on the timings on the Quinssa buses - if we loose we will want to come straight back!!! Also if we do nothave to go until 2 pm this is better. Please advise if you are still going to run as 2 of us would like to support the Quinssa bus!

Yes and another three of us sitting here are fancying the Quinssa timings far more than the club coaches - tho the £10 return pricing is very persuasive. Please can you confirm that Quinssa buses will still go - and at what price....

club stole a lead on this. I am just trying to find out the number of places the club can offer, as wellas awaiting quotes from coach companies to come up with pricing.
This will see if it is worth duplicating the effort between Quinssa & Club

That's pretty daft of the Club to put out that announcement without letting Quinssa know what they were intending to do! It's not as if Quinssa weren't in discussions with them about transport to Cardiff. Numpties!

Warren,
Thanks for your update and congrats on not blowing your lid. Very good of the club to put on the coaches and subsidise them but slightly poor form not to liaise with QUINSSA. The two should be pulling on the same rope given their shared aims.

Yes, it does seem a bit daft, the club really stealing Quinssa's thunder but at £10 return it's difficult to argue. I know Warren has worked tirelessly organising coaches to away matches and I agree, it is poor form for the club to pull the rug from under his feet so to speak. Speed was the essence on this occasion I feel. As we were still waiting, I got my tickets and coach travel this morning from the club. All the £45 tickets have gone. There are £36 and £20 ones left.

I think it is excellent that the Club are offering such a good deal on coach travel and cannot see why some posters are moaning about timings. I had planned to drive and had free accommodation in Cardiff but this offer is too good to pass up. We shall also be offered parking at the Stoop so I shall be home in half an hour after we arrive back. Can offer 2 people a lift back to the Uxbridge area.

I think it's commendable that the club have organised cheap coaches for the final. However, I do think it's poor form not to have done this in conjunction with quinssa and then to undercut them as well, I think is wrong.

I would therefore like to thank the club for the coaches, but they should have co-ordinated with quinssa first. It's not as if they wouldn't have known that quinssa were running coaches, or would be trying to do so. Whilst I'd like to be glad that the club are doing this, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

True, I don't know the whole story, but it looks bad from here.

Finally, a huge thank you to Andrew and Warren for their hard work this year with organising the coaches.

I've now booked my coach pass. They will be sent out this week, with tickets hopefully sent out next week.

The nice lady I spoke to said that the club would be sending out an email about where to park and leave cars too.

It was, in the end, quite painless.

I probably sounded grumpy earlier, but I am grateful to the club for putting the coaches on and it's a great deal. I'm just a bit disappointed that this wasn't conveyed to quinssa earlier, as they no doubt put a lot of time into this.

Considered the coach, but didn't want to hang around until 11.30 before heading back so 4 or 5 of us going by car.
just a thought, but maybe the club could arrange it so that the coaches will leave as the fill up, if lots of people head for the coaches staraight after the game, get on the first available coach and when it is full it leaves.
Just a thought.

and clare please head to the Stoop on 20th May, would hate you to miss the coach by a month. :-)

This is all assuming you can actually book tickets for the coaches. This can only be done over the telephone - I have just wasted over an hour trying - having got cut off from the system a total of 5 times - on one occasion actually having got to first in an apparent queue after 25 minutes. Very frustrating!

Well done to the club for organising and subsidising coaches for all who wish to take up the offer. Eventually managed to book my 6 tickets online today will phone the club in the morning and book coach tickets. To coin a phrase 'SIMPLES'

When I booked the coach pass last week I was told that the coach tickets would be sent out that day (which they were) but that the match tickets would be sent out as soon as they had arrived at the club and allocated and they hoped that would be this week.

This is the mailer from the club today. Note that carparking at Cardiff is £10 and not £5. Also, there will be no additional trains back to London after the game - the request needs to be made 2 years in advance!

Ticketing Update

If you have purchased tickets for the Final – whether they are match tickets, tickets for the coaches or tickets for the Free Screening - these have now all been sent out so you should have receive them over the next few days.

Due to the match being next Friday, we will be stopping selling at the close of business on Monday. Tickets will still be available via Ticketmaster if you’re still to decide whether to attend or not.

Just a reminder that tickets cost £36 along the sides or £20 behind the posts. Please be aware that we now have very limited number of £36 tickets available through us in the Office. If you want to purchase additional tickets to ones that you’ve already purchased please be aware that these may not be near the tickets already allocated. Tickets can purchased either over the telephone on 0871 527 1315, in Person at the Stoop or online

Travel Update

Coaches - If you have purchased a ticket to travel on the coaches, I will be writing to you on Monday with definitive details on where you can leave your car, where you have to get the coaches from and other arrangements for the day. We will also be stopping selling spaces on the coaches at the close of business on Monday as we have to confirm numbers with the Coach Operator.

Car - If you are planning on travelling down to the Stadium by car, please note that Car Parking unfortunately cannot be purchased in advance and will be payable on the day only. The cost of parking is £10 (not £5 as per my previous e-mail, my error) and there will be plenty of parking at the Stadium.

Train – ERC had a meeting with Southwest trains yesterday to try and put on additional trains. Unfortunately they were not successful and were not able to facilitate a later train back to London from Cardiff. We did try but apparently you need to give 2 years notice to get additional trains laid on!!

Interesting that 2 years notice needed for additional trains, so as extra trains put on for the Army v Navy game last weekend, they knew this would be going ahead 2 years ago! So why did the Premier Rugby schedule us to play at home on the same day, didn’t they speak to the RFU to check there wasn’t anything major going on in Twickers.

The lady of the phone said they have sold 3,000 tickets for the final so far. They are the season ticket holders who are buying for themselves and friends/family so be interesting how many Quins fans who are not season ticket holders have booked by Ticketmaster or bought privately off Munster fans

Or how how many season ticket holders bought via ticket master or privately! Sorry to exclude your category Arlecchino! I'm looking forward to this. The atmosphere should be great. I wonder how many Stade Francais fans will be there. They were great at the Stade De France and The Stoop a couple of years ago!

The distance means unlike us on the coach the French cannot really make it there and back in a day. The Heineken Cup means booking accommodation will be difficult. I think there will be a very small but vocal band of French support.

Thank you very much for booking your coach travel with us for the Final on Friday. Below is the important information for travelling to Cardiff City Stadium on the Supporters Coaches.

This e-mail takes the form of FAQ’s

Where do I park my car on Friday?
All persons who are travelling to the Final on the coach are required to park their cars in the North Car Park at Twickenham Stadium, purely due to the numbers of people that are travelling on the coaches.

If you think that you might not collect your car after the match, due to drinking, then please do not park at Twickenham Stadium as the London 7s is the following day and they may tow your car from the car park!!

Why can I not park at the Stoop?
We have over 500 people coming to the FREE screening at the Stoop and require the parking for these people

Where do the coaches leave from?
All of the coaches will be leaving and returning to the North Car Park at Twickenham Stadium

What time will the coaches be leaving Twickenham Stadium?
We are intending the coaches leaving by 1.30pm so please can we ask that you get to Twickenham Stadium no later than 1.15pm. We are intending to implement a rolling leave, i.e. once a coach is full it will go.

Can tickets be purchased on the day?
No, we are not selling any coach tickets on Friday

Will I be able to leave any items on the coach?
The simple answer is No. There is no guarantee that you’ll be coming back on the same coach that you travel on, so please do not leave any items on the coaches.

What time will the coaches be leaving Cardiff City Stadium?
This is really dependent on the outcome of the match. We will be implementing a rolling leave, so once a coach if full it will head back to Twickenham. The last coach will leave at 11.30pm

Other information: -

You will be required to show your coach ticket, which has been sent to you, to access the coaches. Without this it will be deemed that you haven’t paid and will not be allowed on the coach. This will be the same for the return journey.

That’s all for now. Hope you enjoy the day and we get the right result

The club confirmed that there will be no stops en route but there will be a toilet on board.

I presume no stops means food and soft drinks will be allowed, but not sure about booze. I'm planning to call Cardiff City tomorrow to check the ground rules for the stadium as they look quite draconian (no cameras, drinks, poles [which presumably includes flags])...

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